Commission outlines wage decision

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The Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) has
outlined several factors that contributed to today's decision to
give low paid workers a $17 a week wage increase.

In delivering its decision, the commission said the ACTU claim
of $26.60 was "excessive".

However, the government's push for $11 was too low and would
have reduced the spending power of low-paid workers, despite claims
to the contrary made by the Commonwealth government, the AIRC
found.

Because prices had increased by 2.6 per cent to last December,
any weekly rise would have to be at least $12, the commission
found.

Tax relief measures introduced by the federal government would
help low-paid workers to an extent, but the wage safety net would
have to increase by 3.6 per cent ($17) to stay in line with the
rise in average earnings, the commission found.

The effect that the drought would have on economic growth in
Australia was also considered by the commission in the case.

The commission criticised the government for failing to provide
it with basic data on the proportion of workers affected by safety
net adjustments in 1997 and 2004.

"It is a matter of significance that while the Commonwealth has
criticised the commission's past decision because of their
employment effects, the most basic of information about safety net
adjustments and the minimum wage - how many people are affected by
them - is apparently not available to the Commonwealth," the
commission wrote in its ruling.

It agreed with the government that low-paid employees were not
generally living in poverty, but said many workers would have been
significantly worse off if the commission had not ruled above
government submissions over the years.